Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars (sadly)
Prologue
Time: 2565 years BBY
The woman was late. Her customers didn't like it when she was late. They got very angry normally. One had slashed at her with a knife. She had barely escaped with her life.
She was a tall woman, with pinkish-purple skin, dark blue tattoos all over it, with her three horns keeping her afro of green hair out of her way. Her hooves were firmly polished and she was dressed in her skimpiest outfit. That wouldn't matter to her client. She was late.
But today, she had good reason to be late. She had been feeling a bit off recently, so she had spent some her hard earned money on a pregnancy test. Her fears were confirmed. She was pregnant.
She couldn't afford to get pregnant. She didn't even know who the father was for a start. People in her position rarely did. What happened if she kept the baby, and she grew up asking where her dad was? And she couldn't afford to have a kid. She barely earned enough for herself. And what if she had a disease? She didn't want that passed on to any baby.
Yes, it was trouble alright. Being pregnant did not improve her chances.
She hurried down a narrow side street in the city of Dreshdae on Korriban. A Theelin, she only attracted a few stares as she passed various people transiting to and from work, going out to the spaceport or to the Academy. The Academy belonged to the Sith.
For the last fifty or so years, the Sith Ascendancy under Darth Anarchy had been fighting a war of stalemate against the Republic. At present, each side ruled around a third of the galaxy. The Jedi were deployed on many worlds, leading the Republic forces in war against them. The Sith Ascendancy had troops on many worlds also, with several different Sith Lords leading the armies in a way similar to the Jedi.
Anarchy had been raised a Sith Lord, who's name was lost to history. He had appeared in the galaxy about one hundred years ago, with a cadre of other Sith Lords. Convincing several systems that the Senate was corrupt, he started a secession movement, and thus began the war. The new planets formed the Sith Ascendancy, and he began taking on the Republic. He slowly built up, attacking only supply convoys, assassinating minor leaders and making a nuisance of himself, until he pounced. Attacking the major Republic shipyards at Sluis Van, he started a wave of fear throughout the Republic that made the public beg their leaders to stop him and his Sith Council. The Chancellor at the time had no choice but to agree, and so began the Deadlock War. If the Sith took one planet, the Republic took one planet. If a Sith Lord was killed, a Jedi Councillor was killed. It had proceeded thus for the last fifty years. Under the guidance of Sahara Pelura, the Caamasi leader of the Jedi Council, the Jedi had fought hard for many years. However, Anarchy had picked a bad time in which to attack. With the conclusion of the Galactic Sith War over a thousand years before, the Republic had entered a period of relative tranquillity. The sudden appearance of a Sith threat had frightened them certainly, but hadn't made them do all that much about it. If Anarchy was going to do anything, he should have done it at the beginning, when the Republic was slow to move.
With the attack on Sluis Van, it had all changed. While there were millions of people loyal to both factions, a common Joe Bloggs could see full well that the war was getting nowhere. Neither side had the forces, resources or will with which to launch a major offensive, and so they were stuck. The Sith had one third, the Republic had one third, and the other third was neutral.
The woman didn't want any child she may have growing up in a galaxy where war was an everyday factor. True, if the Republic ever got in so far as Korriban, the Sith Ascendancy would be finished anyway. However, Anarchy and his eleven colleagues on the Sith Council weren't going to let that happen.
The Theelin woman pondered her situation. Korriban was an alright place to raise a child. She hadn't had any choice where she had been brought up. Her mother had been killed by a Sith Lord in a fit of rage several years before. Since then, the girl had raised herself. With no means to support herself, and an abusive father, she wouldn't have lasted long without using one of her few advantages in life: her looks. Sleeping around made you a figure of scorn, even here on Korriban, but it paid the rent and for a few small creature comforts. Should she raise a child the same way she was raised? Would she impose that on her own child?
Korriban's sky was dark, echoing her mood as she finally arrived at the barracks. The Sith garrison in Dreshdae itself was small, the larger one being out in the waste's and only a small group of troops defending the academy. But the commander of the base, her customer, was an evil little man who could never get a woman on his own. So, he relied on prostitutes. She pondered as she was led to his quarters. Was it him? She saw him often enough. But she couldn't be sure, and he'd probably have her shot in case of a scandal.
She traipsed across the barren base towards his quarters, letting herself in. She sat and thought, long and hard. Should she keep the baby? On one hand, she'd place the child in danger. On the other, she could use some company…and it would get her away from customers for a while.
"Yes, I'll keep it." she promised to herself, as her client entered, angry at her lateness.
That night, she had no trouble with him at all, her mind full with thoughts.
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Darth Alienatus was standing at the summit of the Academy, when he felt the sentence reverberate through the Force.
"Interesting." he said.
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For ten months, the baby stirred in her womb. The woman stopped serving customers in such a way after two months, and got a job in the cantina, serving drinks. It was work, and it paid, and that was what she needed. But as her pregnancy progressed, the more worried she became. The baby was very restless within her, and the baby's hooves caught her several times, causing her pain. The woman didn't know much about the Force, but she felt that it may be active within her child. That would explain the baby's fidgeting. The dark energies on Korriban would certainly alert a Force-sensitive. But that possibility created a whole new set of problems.
The woman was scared of Korriban now. Troops now actively patrolled the streets, and various people in dark robes fluttered past like bats out of hell. It was becoming a nexus for the dark side on the planet. Thieves and mercenaries had all appeared on the planet, to perform some insidious task for the Sith Ascendancy. Drugs and vice plagued the streets, and while Dreshdae suffered outside, the Academy blossomed on the inside. Korriban had gotten dangerous. Perhaps Anarchy was preparing yet another gargantuan effort to move his drinks cabinet six inches closer to Coruscant.
Regardless, she was scared. People tailed her, and not always people she could see. She had become steadily aware of someone watching her for the last ten months. As far as she knew, she hadn't slept with any of the Sith, but there was always a possibility that she had, and now the Force user wanted to make sure she didn't blab. But she had other worries. Such as the baby's impending birth.
The baby was late. Her own health was getting worse, and she felt that the baby was corrupting her body somehow. Taking a deep breath, she went to serve a customer. And then she was him again.
A man had been coming in every night she was working for the last ten months. The same time she had discovered her pregnancy and she had started working. He gave her the collywobbles.
What if he was following her? What if he wanted to take the baby from her? What happens if it was a Jedi, determined to stop the Sith getting a new recruit if she was indeed right about the baby's Force sensitivity? Or was he just a common stalker, or an aggrieved ex-customer?
She suddenly became aware of a large puddle.
"Oh crap." she swore.
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Twenty hours later, she was screaming in excruciating pain.
"Madam, you must remain calm." the MD droid said.
She snarled at the droid.
"No uterus, no opinion! Cant you give me anything!"?"
As far as she was able to ascertain, the baby was the wrong way up, and her hooves were getting caught in her passage. As the baby was trying to get out, it kept kicking and was ripping away at the woman's insides.
"Get her out of me!" she begged.
"Madam, we must let her work herself out. If not, she may die." the droid stated.
The woman screamed as another wave of pain occurred.
"Then give me something!"
The droid bustled off and came back with a silver mixture.
"This is Spicecane. It will rest the pain. However, you can only take this amount. It is a very potent drug. Addiction occurs in the third usage normally."
The woman was blissfully painless for the next two hours, in which time the baby still didn't come out. When the droid was occupied fetching fresh linen, the woman slipped another two vials into her pocket.
A further ten hours later, with two more shots from the droid and one of her won, the baby was born. The baby girl was green skinned, with a small tuft of blue hair.
"My child." the woman whispered in a daze.
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Darth Alienatus, who had been outside the hospital for at least thirty hours, smiled as he felt the new life.
"A saviour for the Sith. Interesting." he said with glee, and vanished into the shadows.
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Years passed. The young girl grew. And all the time she did so, her mother grew more addicted. After the numerous injections he had taken during the birth of her child, the woman had quickly become addicted. When she had gone back to work, she had also taken up her prostitution to pay for her drugs. But while the woman was hopelessly addicted and used their last penny every week on more Spicecane, the girl remained unaffected.
In the wider galaxy, away from the mother and her drug addiction, and the daughter and her disdain, the galaxy had quietened down. Darth Anarchy had failed in his last great offensive, and was still licking his wounds, as was the Republic. The situation just went around in circles. The mercs had all but vanished. However, the Sith in the Academy had been quite excited about something of late, none more so than Darth Alienatus, who as the deputy of the facility was responsible for most of it's PR campaigns. He could feel that the time was close.
The girl wasn't particularly happy. Her mother frequently reminded her of her worthlessness.
"These drugs are the only thing that get me through the day girl. And its all your fault. Without Spicecane I would have died! Having you was the worst decision I ever made."
The girl hated her mother. She thought she was worthless. So, the girl spent as much time as possible out of the house. She would frequently meddle in affairs that weren't her concern, and was fascinated by the Sith who stalked the shadowy streets of Dreshdae. When doing so she frequently saw her mother's dealer, a tall black man with evil little eyes. He was the worst person the girl had ever met, and she lived with her mother. She knew that he tampered with the concentrations of the Spicecane to make it more potent. She could see the effects in her mother.
While her mother had once been a full-bodied Theelin, she was now a thin, wrinkled, haggard wreck. Severe mood swings, lethargy, and desperation for a fix were commonplace. Her mother frequently smashed plates to vent her frustration. Sometimes she would even hit her daughter. And then she would get more annoyed, because the daughter would never scream. She frequently cut the dealer's wrists with her nails too, in her desperation to get her drugs as soon as possible. But the girl never interfered. The dealer had once hit her, as had a couple of customers when she was younger. Now, she basically ignored her mother. She considered the woman weak, powerless and worthless, a woman who had turned to intoxication because she was too weak to withstand the fear and pain she had felt after the difficult birth of her daughter.
"Worst decision of my life, keeping you! And then actually giving birth was the worst night of my life!" her mother would screech.
The girl sometimes had tantrums, and massive blazing rows with her mother. They were united by their mutual hatred of each other. Although only six years old, seven in a few days, she could hold her own against her drug-laden mother. The woman was a waste of space. The girl didn't doubt that she had once been full of joy at the prospect of having a child, but that had long since evaporated. The woman had probably wanted to be a caring mother, but the drugs had gotten the better of her. As such, the girl viewed her mother as her inferior, considering her weak, so weak that she couldn't care for her won daughter properly. The girl had basically raised herself, or went to Illapa, the bartender, who was a better mother than her own one was. Several times Illapa had tried to adopt her, but her mother had rebuffed her. Now, the girl was trapped with her vicious addict mother, and couldn't escape.
She had gotten into trouble several times for stealing, and her mother had abused her for it. Things were so bad with her mother that she longed for the day she could escape.
Little did she know that that day was only a few hours away.
She knew that the dealer was going to be there later. But she had a plan. Her mother had clawed her face the day before for dropping one of her Spicecane vials. Today, she would use the strange powers she had. While her mother called her a freak show, the girl found them very useful, especially the telekinesis. She would drop all her Spicecane on the floor when she wasn't in the room, and that would serve her mother right. If she was lucky, the twisted old bag would hang herself out of desperation for a fix.
"Ma dealer's comin round tonight, so you stay in your room!" her mother barked at her as she entered.
The girl glowered at her haggard old mother.
"Why should I?" she demanded.
"Because I bloody told you to you little freak!" the mother roared, stepping towards her daughter.
The girl stuck her green chin out defiantly.
"Don't call me a freak you stupid old cow!" she snapped back.
"I'm your bloody mother girl! You address me with respect!" she cried angrily and slapped her daughter in the face.
The girl snarled, and dashed for her drug stash.
"I hate you!" she screamed, picked up the three vials, and crushed them.
The tiny little room they owned was silent as the drops of liquid fell onto the floor. Then, the mother gave an enraged cry.
"You fucking little bitch!"
Her haggard, wiry mother sprang at her, and the girl was unprepared for her ferocity. Her mother grabbed her neck and wrestled her to the ground, throttling her. The girl screeched in pain as her mother dug her nails into her skin and squeezed her neck.
"That was my fix you stupid bitch! I am your mother! You do as I say you little cow!"
The girl struggled out of her mothers grip and punched her mother in the face. The mother swore at her as she struggled to her feet, gasping for breath. Then her mother dashed at her again, but this time the girl was ready. She dug her teeth into her mother's neck, ripping off a patch of skin and seeing blood flow.
"AHH!"
The mother rushed at her daughter, but the girl brought her hoof into her mothers stomach. The mother grabbed her daughters foot and she crashed into the table, and then to the floor, dislodging a heavy metal plate that separated the rooms. Her mother was then on her, pummelling every inch of her body with her fists, totally berserk with rage, determined to kill the one who had taken her drugs away from her. The girl reached out for something, anything, that would save her from her mother's fury. She grabbed the metal bar, and wrenched a bar off, and swung with all her might. There was a splattering of liquid over her face, and the pressure on her body was gone suddenly.
She staggered to her feet, gasping and saw her mother lying on the floor, a large puddle of blood surrounding her head like a halo. She was definitely dead. She'd killed her own mother. She took several deep gasps, and flinched as the door rang.
The dealer had arrived.
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Darth Calculus, a Chagrian female, raised an eyebrow as Alienatus shot past with an expression of great excitement.
"Whats got you so excited? Is it two for one at the bar or something?"
Alienatus grinned.
"No. It is the future awakening."
And with that he was gone.
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The girl panicked. She didn't know what to do. The dealer would open the door himself in a second. And the militia may arrive if someone had heard the commotion.
Before she could decide, the door opened. The dealer took one look at the body on the floor, and roared.
"You've killed my customer you little harlot!"
The girl was scared. The man would kill her. She'd been lucky to survive her mother. She used the only shield she knew. Her fear. She feared her own death. And without meaning to, she sent it outward.
The man suddenly screamed in sheer terror. Opening her eyes, the girl observed him writhing on the floor. He was crying out in terror.
"No, this is all mine! Mine! Ya wont take it ya useless pigs! No! It's ma money!" he screamed.
He was obviously seeing the collapse of his little criminal empire. But his screaming was getting out of hand. It would draw the militia. And on corrupt Korriban, she'd probably be killed for killing him.
So, she picked up the bar, and crashed it down to save herself.
She took several, deep steadying breaths. She'd killed her own mother and a drug dealer. But how she had driven him insane was a mystery to her.
As was what she was going to do now. She could run, but she wouldn't get far. They'd figure she was trying to escape after committing a double murder, even if it was in self defence, and stop her. She was alone, and Illapa couldn't help her. She was lonely, afraid and guilty. She would surely be killed.
There was a rustling. If it was the militia, she'd just get shot. A seven year old girl, killing two people? It seemed ludicrous. But stranger things had happened on Korriban. She raised her bar like a club.
But it wasn't the militia. It was a man, dressed all in black. He had grey hair, and looked very intelligent and ruthless at the same time. He had long, thing fingers with black fingernails. His eyes were a sickly green colour.
"Hello. Do you know who I am?" he asked in a grave voice.
She shook her head in fear.
"I am Darth Alienatus, a Sith at the Academy. You killed these people?" he asked gently.
She gave a reluctant nod. She was wielding the guilty weapon in her hand, so there was no point lying.
"In self defence?"
She nodded, and he smiled.
"Very good. Do you know what you did to the man?" he asked kindly.
She shook her head mutely.
"You drove him insane through fear. I believe your mother called you a freak? No. You aren't a freak. You are a miracle."
He knelt down in front of her, and she took a deep breath. She feared what was coming next.
"You could be great. If you stay here, you will be killed or enslaved. But if you come with me, if you come with me, you will become one of the strongest people to ever exist in this galaxy. What do you say?"
The girl saw something in his eyes she had only ever seen from Illapa. Kindness. And there was something else in there. Reverence, like the way her mother had looked at her dealer.
"Will I become a Sith?" she whispered.
"Yes. One of the greatest ever." he said fondly, and held out his hand.
She dropped the bar, and took it.
"I name you Darth Phobos, the Lady of Fear. you and I will be great." he promised.
With that, he covered her in his cape to hide her from view, and they left the bloody scene as sirens wailed in the distance.
Well, there's the prologue of Darth Phobos' own story. A bit gruesome I know, but things arent nice when you're writing solely about a bad guy.
If you are interested in this story, I will continue if I get five reviews. It may interest you to know that I have plotted out the story (a very long process as I had to find a variety of differnet species as I dont want to rely on the usual ones), and if I write the whole thing it will consist of 52 or so chapters.
So, please review if you want me to continue, and next time, if I do it, we will see Darth Phobos begin her long ascent to power within the Sith and how things are going in the war between the new Sith Ascendancy and the Galactic Republic.
So, please read and review! and I hope to update this story soon, if I get reviews! Byee!